Wilhelmina Catharina Doornbosch
| Geslacht: | Vrouw | |
| Vader: | Jan Doornbosch | |
| Moeder: | Hermina Kikkert | |
| Geboren: | 27 MEI 1902 | Den Haag |
| Aantekeningen: | Last Name: Groenendijk First Name: Wilhelmina Catharina Maiden Name: Doornbosch Alias: MIEP Date of death: 25/09/1987 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Female Place during the war: Warmond, Zuidholland, The Netherlands; Den Haag, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Warmond, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/11962) Jacobus (called Koos) and Wilhelmina (called Miep) Groenendijk lived on the estate of the banker Emile Menten in Warmond, close to Leiden. They managed the premises and the household of the Menten family. In the summer of 1942, with the start of the expulsion of the Dutch Jews to the camps in the East, the Groenendijks, who had no children of their own, were approached by friends of the Jewish parents of a little girl, with the request to hide her. When they were given the green light by Emile Menten, they received a four-year-old girl, whose name was not given to them. They called her Dot, and Miep Groenendijk started a diary, describing the daily progress of the girl, so that her own mother could be filled in later and see the stages of her daughters development. Miep described every single detail of the girls development including a large number of corresponding pictures. The Groenendijks stayed with Dot on the estate only, not revealing her presence with them to anyone. When she was ill, they managed to find a physician who kept her Jewish identity a secret. On May 20, 1944, nearly two years after they had taken in Dot, the Groenendijks received an anonymous letter, which stated that the sender knew they were hiding a Jewish girl and that they were being watched. Miep immediately left the premises with Dot, and the two wandered around for some months between various temporary addresses. Miep, whom Dot saw as her own mother by now, did not want to cause the girl the trauma of separation and stayed with her. Only in October that year, with the onset of what was to become the infamous Hungerwinter, did Miep go back home to the estate with Dot. The Groenendijks managed to hide Dot safely until the liberation of the area in May 1945. Dots parents survived the war and came to pick her up. Her real name was Judith Noordhof (later, Smaga), born in May 1938. Contact between the two families continued also after the immigration of the Noordhofs to Israel in 1952. At the opening of the new historical museum at Yad Vashem in 2005, then Dutch Prime Minister Peter Balkenende quoted this story of heroism and human decency. On November 24, 2010, Yad Vashem recognized Jacobus Petrus Groenendijk and Wilhelmina Catharina Groenendijk-Doornbosch as Righteous Among the Nations. |
|
Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Jacobus Petrus Groenendijk | geb. 1900 |
| Huwelijk: | 3 Juni 1925 | Den Haag |